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Susan Mullally portrays Shields as a warm and outgoing person. In a quasi-symmetrical close-up, he is shown outdoors against large trees that have lost their leaves. A chest-high iron bar over which his hands dangle supports his extended arms. He wears a corduroy jacket and heavy wool sweater; his smiling expression reveals his teeth. He is bald, with an ample beard that has been carefully sculpted. He wears an earring in his left earlobe, fingernail polish, and a small tattoo of a peace symbol on the outside of his left hand.
Reynolda House’s annual report for1983–1984 described Shields’s visit: “In March Alan Shields, a printmaker, sculptor, and painter whose work is well represented in the Reynolda House collection, compared his way of working to a bird's building a nest: both start with a natural form like a circle, which is interwoven and decorated with threads, paper shreds, and other scavenged items. He called his handmade paper ‘a plastic medium, a little bit primitive.’’’ [1] Also like a bird building a nest, Shields frequently combined materials, sewing paper, for instance, or adding beads, and Reynolda House owns three pieces that demonstrate his eclectic approach. As reflected in Mullally’s photograph, Shields’s physical appearance was both eccentric—tattoos, nail polish, earring—but also conforming—corduroy jacket and sweater. Her honest and straightforward composition achieves a visual balance that mirrors his persona.
Notes:
[1] Reynolda House, Annual Report, 1983–1984, archives, Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
ProvenanceFrom 1993
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the artist in December 1993. [1]
Notes:
[1] Email from artist, June 13, 2006, object file.
Exhibition History2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/30/2006-12/30/2006)
Published References
DepartmentAmerican Art
Alan Shields
Artist
Susan Mullally
(born 1947)
Subject
Alan J. Shields
(1944 - 2005)
Date1984
Mediumsilver gelatin print
DimensionsFrame: 14 1/4 x 17 1/4 in. (36.2 x 43.8 cm)
Image: 7 1/2 x 9 3/8 in. (19.1 x 23.8 cm)
SignedSusan Mullally Clark 1984
Credit LineGift of the Artist
Copyright© Susan Mullally
Object number1987.2.11
DescriptionReynolda House’s visiting artists series included well-established artists like Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Chuck Close, as well as lesser-known figures such as Alan Shields (1944–2005). Shields was younger than the others, and also more unconventional.Susan Mullally portrays Shields as a warm and outgoing person. In a quasi-symmetrical close-up, he is shown outdoors against large trees that have lost their leaves. A chest-high iron bar over which his hands dangle supports his extended arms. He wears a corduroy jacket and heavy wool sweater; his smiling expression reveals his teeth. He is bald, with an ample beard that has been carefully sculpted. He wears an earring in his left earlobe, fingernail polish, and a small tattoo of a peace symbol on the outside of his left hand.
Reynolda House’s annual report for1983–1984 described Shields’s visit: “In March Alan Shields, a printmaker, sculptor, and painter whose work is well represented in the Reynolda House collection, compared his way of working to a bird's building a nest: both start with a natural form like a circle, which is interwoven and decorated with threads, paper shreds, and other scavenged items. He called his handmade paper ‘a plastic medium, a little bit primitive.’’’ [1] Also like a bird building a nest, Shields frequently combined materials, sewing paper, for instance, or adding beads, and Reynolda House owns three pieces that demonstrate his eclectic approach. As reflected in Mullally’s photograph, Shields’s physical appearance was both eccentric—tattoos, nail polish, earring—but also conforming—corduroy jacket and sweater. Her honest and straightforward composition achieves a visual balance that mirrors his persona.
Notes:
[1] Reynolda House, Annual Report, 1983–1984, archives, Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
ProvenanceFrom 1993
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by the artist in December 1993. [1]
Notes:
[1] Email from artist, June 13, 2006, object file.
Exhibition History2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/30/2006-12/30/2006)
Published References
Status
Not on view